At the NEA convention in Chicago last year, we delegates voted in support of New Business Item 93.
NEA will publicly oppose Teach for America (TFA) contracts when they are used in Districts where there is no teacher shortage or when Districts use TFA agreements to reduce teacher costs, silence union voices, or as a vehicle to bust unions.
More than the precise wording of the NBI itself was the sense (common sense I would say) that Teach For America has become a tool of corporate reformers to undermine teacher unions and teacher contracts.
Here we are less than six months since NBI 93 was adopted by the 10,000 delegates at the NEA RA, and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel is co-writing columns on teacher quality with the Wendy Kopp, head of TFA.
Apparently NEA votes don’t mean much to NEA leaders.